This invention relates generally to device for encouraging housed poultry to be active and, more particularly, to an agitator driven by a continuous cable drive mechanism to move poultry within a housing structure to enhance feed consumption and promote healthier birds.
Poultry raised in confined areas have a restricted amount of room in which to move around. As the birds grow and become larger, the amount of room becomes even more restricted. It has been found that walking through the confined housing encourages the birds to move around. A number of devices have been devised to simulate a human""s movement through the confined area, including U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,304,194 and 4,313,397. Other prior art devices have utilized targets to encourage the birds to move from one area to another, including U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,167,153 and 5,076,212. Movement of confined poultry results in increased food consumption and, therefore, weight for the birds. Furthermore, movement also gives the birds needed exercise to strengthen muscles and promote healthy growth.
Some modern poultry houses are constructed with a ventilation system that directs the flow of fresh air from one end of the long rectangular building to the other, creating a tunnel effect. This flow-through ventilation system tends to urge the birds to migrate to the side walls of the building where less air is being moved. The congregation of large numbers of the birds creates a significant build-up of heat energy and results in suffocation of the birds. Since the watering and feeding systems for the birds are positioned through the building, the congregation of the birds at the side walls prevents the majority of the birds from reaching either food or water, thus hampering growth and promoting sickness in the flock. The known prior art devices attempt to keep the birds more homogeneously distributed throughout the building.
The drive mechanisms for the agitator devices identified above generally utilize tracks or channels on which the devices are mounted for movement through the building. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,167,153, the drive mechanism is an electric motor mounted directly on the agitator and supported in a channel-shaped rail having a drive mechanism housed therein to cause the baffle to be moved around the poultry house. This channel-shaped rail needs to be of substantive mass to support the weight of the motor and associated baffle structure. Placing such a massive structure in a modem poultry house which can be hundreds of feet long is cost prohibitive.
Similarly, the drive mechanism in U.S. Pat. No. 5,076,212 includes a substantial pipe supported fore-and-aft through the length of the poultry house. The carrier is connected to a flexible cable that is wound on a spool that drives the carrier back and forth along the length of the poultry house. As with the drive mechanism of the U.S. Pat. No. 4,167,153, the expense of hanging the support tubing and providing a drive spool for each of the lines on which the carriers are mounted would be substantial. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,304,194 and 4,313,397 are very similar in nature to the massive supports taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,167,153 and would be cost prohibitive for large modem poultry houses.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a poultry agitator that would be operable to move poultry from away from the side walls of a poultry house having flow-through ventilation systems, and to provide a drive mechanism for the agitator mechanism that can be inexpensively installed and operated to provide a cost effective device for enhancing the growth and health of confined poultry.
It is an object of this invention to provide a poultry agitator that is operable to move poultry away from the side walls of a poultry house having a flow-through ventilation system.
It is another object of this invention to provide a poultry agitator structure that can be installed and operated in a cost effective manner to promote the health and growth of confined poultry.
It is still another object of this invention to provide a drive mechanism for a poultry agitator that is permits the agitator to be utilized in modem poultry houses.
It is an advantage of this invention that the drive mechanism permits the installation of a cost effective poultry agitator.
It is a feature of this invention that the poultry agitator does not require a substantial support beam for carrying the agitator members through the poultry house.
It is another advantage of this invention that the agitator carrier does not have to support the drive mechanism.
It is another feature of this invention that the drive mechanism is positionable in a conveniently accessible corner of the poultry house while being operable to cause movement of the agitator carrier along the length of the poultry house side walls.
It is still another advantage of this invention that the single drive mechanism is operable to effect simultaneous movement of two agitator carriers along opposing side walls of the poultry house from a single location.
It is still another object of this invention to provide a cost effective poultry agitator that will enable poultry growers to install and operate the agitator to maximize profits.
It is yet another feature of this invention that the agitator structure utilizes hangers spaced along the length of travel of the agitator members to support a flexible cable entrained around a drive wheel to cause the cable to circulate around the circumference of the poultry house.
It is yet another advantage of this invention that the agitator encourages the poultry to exercise, feed and intake water, thus promoting the health of the birds being confined in the poultry house.
It is still another feature of this invention that the agitator mechanism is operated by a programmable control apparatus that is easy to program and utilize.
It is a further feature of this invention that the agitator structure includes a mechanism that operates to reverse the direction of operation of the drive wheel to return the agitator members to a home position.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a poultry agitator that is durable in construction, inexpensive to manufacture, carefree in maintenance, easy to assemble, and simple and effective in use.
These and other objects, features and advantages are accomplished according to the instant invention by providing a poultry agitator that is operable for use in conjunction with long rectangular confined poultry houses equipped with a flow-through ventilation system. The agitator mechanism imitates the action of a human moving through a congregation of birds to encourage the birds to exercise, feed and intake water. The agitator mechanism is formed as a continuous cable that is supported in a circumferential route around the poultry house. The cable is entrained around a drive wheel that is operable to circulate the flexible cable and the agitator members attached thereto. A stop mechanism halts the movement of the agitator near the end of the building and effects a reversal of the direction of operation of the drive wheel to cause the agitator to be returned to the initial home position. The cable is supported from spaced hangers without the need for massive support beam structure to carry the agitator along its path of travel along the side walls of the poultry house. The agitator member is clamped on the cable to move therewith. The agitator is formed as an elongated frame having a target supported near the floor of the poultry house. A programmable control is operable to time the movement of the agitator without operator intervention.